Here are the Canadian books we can't wait to read this September
A new month means new books! Here are some of the most anticipated Canadian titles for September 2024.
Bad Land by Corinna Chong
When Regina's brother shows up on her doorstep with his six-year-old daughter after seven years, her quiet loner life is never the same. The longer they stay, the clearer it becomes to Regina that something terrible has happened — and once the secret is revealed, they're sent on a fraught journey from Alberta to the coast of B.C.
Bad Land is out now.
Originally from Calgary, Corinna Chong lives in Kelowna, B.C. and teaches English and fine arts at Okanagan College. She published her first novel, Belinda's Rings, in 2013. In 2023, she published the short story collection The Whole Animal which includes Kids in Kindergarten, the winner of the 2021 CBC Short Story Prize.
Line Drive to Love by Angel Jendrick
Line Drive to Love is a queer coming-of-age novel about a talented softball player stuck between her passion for the sport and a budding romance with a fellow player. Rory wants to be the best pitcher there is but with her father's ALS diagnosis as well as trying to date the charming Shanti she starts to feel overwhelmed. From softball to family to summer romance, can Rory step up to everything on her plate?
Line Drive to Love is out now.
Angel Jendrick is a writer of romance and poetry currently based in P.E.I. She is also the author of Secret Me.
May Our Joy Endure by Kevin Lambert, translated by Donald Winkler
In May Our Joy Endure, Céline is a celebrated architect and icon. When her first megaproject in her home of Montreal is met with harsh criticism for bringing on gentrification, she is fired as CEO from her firm. She must try to understand what exactly she is being accused of and figure out what to tell herself so that she can continue to justify her world of privilege.
May Our Joy Endure is out now.
Kevin Lambert is a Montreal-based author who grew up in Chicoutimi, Que. May Our Joy Endure won the Prix Médicis, Prix Décembre and Prix Ringuet. His novel Querelle de Roberval was a finalist for numerous prizes in Quebec, Canada and France. His first novel, You Will Love What You Have Killed, won a prize for the best novel from the Saguenay region.
Donald Winkler is a Montreal-based translator. He has won three Governor General's Literary Awards for French-to-English translation.
Every Night I Dream I'm a Monk, Every Night I Dream I'm a Monster by Damian Tarnopolsky
Every Night I Dream I'm a Monk, Every Night I Dream I'm a Monster is a short story collection that transports readers through time and place, from 1980s England to Renaissance France and current Canada. While each story stands alone, connections can be found in the most unexpected ways.
Every Night I Dream I'm a Monk, Every Night I Dream I'm a Monster is out now
Damian Tarnopolsky is a Toronto-based writer, editor and teacher. His novel Goya's Dog was shortlisted for the Amazon First Novel Award and the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best Book (Canada/Caribbean). His short fiction has appeared in The Puritan, The Antigonish Review, Prairie Fire, subTerrain and Audeamus. Tarnopolsky has twice been nominated for the Journey Prize.
In 2007, his story You Guys, featured in Every Night I Dream I'm a Monk, Every Night I Dream I'm a Monster, was shortlisted for the CBC Short Story Prize.
real ones by katherena vermette
Following two Michif sisters, lyn and June, real ones examines what happens when their estranged and white mother gets called out as a pretendian. Going by the name Raven Bearclaw, she's seen success for her art that draws on Indigenous style. As the media hones in on the story, the sisters, whose childhood trauma manifests in different ways, are pulled into their mother's web of lies and the painful past resurfaces.
real ones is out now.
katherena vermette is a Métis writer from Winnipeg. Her books include the poetry collections North End Love Songs and river woman and the four-book graphic novel series A Girl Called Echo. Her novels are The Break, The Strangers, The Circle. North End Love Songs won the Governor General's Literary Award for poetry. The Break was a finalist for the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize and the Governor General's Literary Award for fiction. It was defended by Candy Palmater on Canada Reads 2017. The Strangers won the 2021 Atwood Gibson Writers' Trust Fiction Prize and was longlisted for the 2021 Scotiabank Giller Prize.
The Wedding by Gurjinder Basran
In a Bollywood-inspired family drama, The Wedding transports readers to Surrey and Vancouver, B.C. in the lead-up to the lavish Sikh wedding between Devi and Baby. Offering glimpses into the lives of the wedding party, guests and the event staff making it all happen, the novel is all about community, tradition and the union of two people.
The Wedding is out now.
Gurjinder Basran is a writer living in Delta, B.C. Her novels include Everything Was Good-bye, the winner of the BC Book Prize and the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize, Help! I'm Alive and Someone You Love is Gone.
Voice Lessons by Eve Krakow
Voice Lessons is a collection of personal essays that explore one woman's journey to find her voice — as an introverted singer, a writer, a mother and a person. Showing a deep love and understanding for human connection, these essays look into dealing with grief at an early age, the anxiety of young adulthood and the tensions that come with heritage and tradition.
Voice Lessons is out now.
Eve Krakow is a Montreal-based writer. Her work has been published in Grain Magazine, The Nasiona, JMWW Journal, Maisonneuve, Smithsonian Magazine and Shy: An Anthology.
Hope by Terry Fox, edited by Barbara Adhiya
Told through interviews with people close to Terry Fox including family, friends, nurses and coaches, Hope tells the story of how he ran his legendary Marathon of Hope. Using their stories, over 200 documents and photos and pages from Terry's own journal, Hope explores Fox's true story filled with resilience, determination and humility.
Voice Lessons is out now.
Barbara Adhiya is an editor and author based in Toronto. She was an editor at CP/AP and Reuters. She was a contributing author for Making It in High Heels 3: Innovators and Trailblazers and was an editor for Expect Miracles by Dr. Joe Vitale.
Hearty by andrea bennett
Hearty is an essay collection that explores andrea bennett's love and appreciation for food as someone who's worked in the industry for decades and uses food to show they care. The essays examine specific foods as well as broader themes like food media and home gardening in a blend of journalism, cultural commentary and personal experience.
Hearty is out now.
andrea bennett is a writer and senior editor at The Tyee. Their writing can be found in The Walrus, Chatelaine, The Atlantic and the Globe and Mail. Their work includes the essay collection Like a Boy but Not a Boy and poetry collection the berry takes the shape of the bloom. They live in Powell River, B.C.
The Monster and the Mirror by K.J. Aiello
In The Monster and the Mirror, K.J. Aiello tells the story of their life through the magical tales that helped them during their struggle with mental illness. Blending memoir, research and cultural criticism, the book dives into stories like The Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones to look into our perceptions and stereotypes when it comes to mental health.
The Monster and the Mirror is out now.
Aiello is a Toronto-based writer whose work has been published in the Globe and Mail, Toronto Life, Chatelaine, The Walrus and This Magazine.
Our Green Heart by Diana Beresford-Kroeger
Our Green Heart is a deep dive into the science of forests and how protecting them will in turn protect us from the harsh effects of climate change. Diana Beresford-Kroeger writes powerful essays about the natural world drawing on her experiences as a botanist, biochemist, biologist, poet and the last child in Ireland to get a full Druidic education.
Our Green Heart is out now.
Beresford-Kroeger is a scientist of medical biochemistry, botany and medicine and a recipient of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society Kamookak Medal. She has written numerous books about nature including Arboretum America: A Philosophy of the Forest, which won the Arbor Day Foundation Award, To Speak for the Trees, which won the Sigurd F. Olson Nature Writing Award and The Global Forest, which she wrote and presented in a feature documentary called Call of the Forest. She lives in Ontario.
Are You Listening? by Zaynab Mohammed
Are You Listening? is a memoir in poems and stories that highlights the importance of listening to oneself, others and the earth. Weaving stories and transforming pain into possibility, it follows Zaynab Mohammed's experience as a woman who lost her innocence as a child because of cultural inequity and was forced to navigate her life in a strange place.
Are You Listening? is out now.
Mohammed is an Iraqi, Lebanese and Palestinian performance poet. Are You Listening? is also a one-woman show that has been touring since 2023. She lives in Nelson, B.C.
cop city swagger by Mercedes Eng
In cop city swagger, Mercedes Eng draws on the experiences of racialized and unhoused people in Vancouver, particularly in communities like Chinatown. Through short poems, Eng examines the threat to public safety the Vancouver police posed by assessing cases from 2019 to 2023, highlighting institutional violence and the purpose of community self-preservation.
cop city swagger is out now.
Eng is a Vancovuer prairie-born poet of Chinese and settler descent. She is also the author of Mercenary English. Eng is an assistant professor at Emily Carr University of Art + Design.
The Sky is a Sky in the Sky by Stuart Ross
The Sky is a Sky in the Sky is a collection of miscellaneous poems including one-line poems, prose and a remix of poetry by Stuart Ross's friend Nelson Ball. Infused with humour, this collection imagines the poet's many lives and the grief he endures.
The Sky is a Sky in the Sky is out now.
Stuart Ross is an Ontario writer, editor and teacher. He is the author of several books of poetry, fiction and essays including You Exist, Pockets and A Sparrow Came Down Resplendent. He won the 2023 Trillium Book Award for his memoir The Book of Grief and Hamburgers.
A Way to Be Happy by Caroline Adderson
A Way to Be Happy is a short story collection that follows various characters as they try to find happiness. Ranging from mundane to extraordinary, the stories feature everything from a pair of addicts robbing parties to fund their sobriety to a Russian hitman dealing with an illness and reliving his past.
A Way to Be Happy is out now.
Caroline Adderson is the Vancouver-based author of five novels, including The Sky is Falling, Ellen in Pieces and A Russian Sister. She has also published two short story collections, including the 1993 Governor General's Literary Award finalist Bad Imaginings.
Adderson's awards include three B.C. Book Prizes, a National Magazine Award Gold Medal for Fiction. She has received the 2006 Marian Engel Award for mid-career achievement. She is also a three-time winner of the CBC Literary Prizes.
The Capital of Dreams by Heather O'Neill
The Capital of Dreams is a dark fairytale set in a small European country during a period of war. Fourteen-year-old Sofia is the daughter of the revered writer, Clara Bottom. When their country is invaded, Clara bundles Sofia onto the last train evacuating children out of the city. Clara gives her daughter her latest manuscript to smuggle to safety.
When the children's train stops in the middle of the forest, Sofia senses they are in danger. She manages to escape, but loses her mother's beloved manuscript. Soon Sofia finds herself alone in a country at war on an epic journey to find all that she has lost.
The Capital of Dreams is out now.
Heather O'Neill is a novelist, short story writer and essayist from Montreal. She won Canada Reads 2024, championing The Future by Catherine Leroux, which was translated from French by Susan Ouriou. O'Neill is the first person to win Canada Reads as both an author and a panellist. Her debut novel Lullabies for Little Criminals won Canada Reads 2007 when it was defended by musician John K. Samson. Her other books include Scotiabank Giller Prize finalists The Girl Who Was Saturday Night and her short story collection Daydreams of Angels.
Countess by Suzan Palumbo
In Countess, Virika Sameroo is the first lieutenant on an interstellar cargo vessel serving the Æerbot Empire. When her captain dies, she is charged for murder and treason even though she's always been loyal. This sets her on a quest for revenge against the empire.
Countess is out now.
Suzan Palumbo is a Trinidadian-Canadian author based in Brampton, Ont. She is also the author of short story collection Skin Thief. Her stories have been nominated for the Nebula, Aurora and World Fantasy Awards.
Songs for the Brokenhearted by Ayelet Tsabari
In Songs for the Brokenhearted, Zohara is a 30-something Yemeni Israeli woman living in New York City, a life that feels much simpler than her childhood growing up in Israel. When her sister calls to let her know of their mother's death, she gets on a plane with no return ticket and begins the journey of unravelling lost family stories.
Songs for the Brokenhearted is out now.
Ayelet Tsabari is the author of The Art of Leaving, which won the Canadian Jewish Literary Award for Memoir and was a finalist for the Writer's Trust Hilary Weston Prize, and The Best Place on Earth, which won the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature and the Edward Lewis Wallant Award. Her short story Green was shortlisted for the 2018 CBC Short Story Prize. She teaches in the MFA creative writing program at the University of Guelph, the MFA in Fiction program at the University of King's College and the Shaindy Rudoff Graduate Program in Creative Writing at Bar-Ilan University. She lived in Toronto for a number of years and currently resides in Tel Aviv.
The Unweaving by Cheryl Parisien
The Unweaving tells the story of one Métis family in 1869 as surveyors arrive in Red River to negotiate joining Confederation. Each member of the family reacts in their own way, but all are hoping to protect their way of life.
The Unweaving is out now.
Cheryl Parisien is a Winnipeg-based Red River Métis writer. The Unweaving is her first novel, which is loosely based on her own family's history.
Interrobang by Mary Dalton
In this collection of exploratory poems, the poet embodies the meaning of Interrobang, a punctuation mark that combines a question mark and an exclamation. Through riddles and playing with form, the poet writes of community, identity and explores what it means to be a "lost soul."
When you can read it: Sept. 12, 2024
St. John's-based Mary Dalton's poetry collections include Merrybegot, Red Ledger, Hooking and Edge. Dalton has won the E.J. Pratt Poetry Award and been shortlisted for various others, among them the Pat Lowther Award, the Atlantic Poetry Award, and the Cogswell Award for Excellence in Poetry.
One River: New and Selected Poems by Ricardo Sternberg
Combining the selected poems of four previous collections in addition to new writings, One River is a collection of exploratory poems in both theme and form. A myriad of otherworldly characters are featured throughout, like a grasshopper or a millionaire entering heaven as a camel and a pilot flying by scent.
When you can read it: Sept. 12, 2024
Ricardo Sternberg is a Toronto-based author and poet. His previous books include The Invention of Honey, Map of Dreams, Bamboo Church, and Some Dance. He is also the author of a book on the Brazilian poet Carlos Drummond de Andrade.
The Flesh of Ice by Garry Gottfriedson
Dedicated to survivors of Kamloops Indian Residential School (KIRS) and all residential schools in Canada The Flesh of Ice is a collection of poems and personal narratives of writer Garry Gottfriedson of the Secwépemc (Shuswap) First Nation. Where Gottfriedson's last collection Bent Back Tongue discussed the history of Indigenous people in Canada as affected by the government of Canada and the Catholic Church, this book describes the lived realities of those who attended KIRS, citing their pain, their resilience and their necessary voices.
When you can read it: Sept. 13, 2024
Gottfriedson is from Kamloops, B.C. He is strongly rooted in his Secwépemc (Shuswap) cultural teachings. In the late 1980s, Gottfriedson studied under Allen Ginsberg, Marianne Faithfull and others at the Naropa Institute in Colorado. He is the author of 13 books, including Skin Like Mine and Clinging to Bone. Gottfriedson received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC) in 2023.
Gottfriedson is a juror for the 2024 CBC Poetry Prize.
I Hate Parties by Jes Battis
I Hate Parties is a collection of 50 poems on Jes Battis' experiences of being queer, autistic and nonbinary. Focusing on the feelings of intense anxiety that come with growing up in the nineties in Canada as a marginalized person, Battis writes of adolescence, queer parties and panic attacks through metaphor and honest verse.
When you can read it: Sept. 14, 2024
Battis is a queer autistic writer and teacher at the University of Regina, splitting their time between the prairies and the west coast. They wrote the Occult Special Investigator series and Parallel Parks series. Battis' first novel, Night Child, was shortlisted for the Sunburst Award. Their novel The Winter Knight was on the Canada Reads 2024 longlist.
I Feel That Way Too by jaz papadopoulos
I Feel That Way Too is a reflection on the #MeToo movement and how survivors of sexual assault are further effected by sensationalized trials. Drawing on their own childhood and events like the Jian Ghomeshi trial, the poet turns a critical lens at the sexist structures the media and other social powers uphold. Through these confrontations, this collection of poems meditates on how the bodies of survivors move through these trials and towards healing.
When you can read it: Sept. 14, 2024
jaz papadopoulos is an interdisciplinary writer and educator from B.C. They hold an MFA from the University of British Columbia and are a Lambda Literary Fellow. I Feel That Way Too is their debut poetry collection.
First Here and then Far by David Zieroth
Reflecting on over 50 years of writing First Here and then Far is a collection of David Zieroth's particular poetic voice and identity. From his upbringing in the Prairies to worldwide travels to his current existence in North Vancouver, Zieroth writes of the curiosity that accompanies the every day.
When you can read it: Sept. 14, 2024
David Zieroth is a Vancouver writer. His poetry collection The Fly in Autumn won the 2009 Governor General's Literary Award and was nominated for the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize and the Acorn-Plantos Award for People's Poetry in 2010. Zieroth also won The Dorothy Livesay Poetry Award for How I Joined Humanity at Last. His other works include the trick of staying and leaving, watching for life, the bridge from day to night and Zoo and Crowbar.
Other Maps by Rebecca Morris
In Other Maps, Anna can't wait to leave her hometown after visiting for her dad's retirement party. When she runs into her ex-best friends, she's forced to confront her past and figure out if there was truth behind the rumours about the New Year's party back in high school — and only then, can she move forward into a better future.
When you can read it: Sept. 14, 2024
Rebecca (Atkinson) Morris is a Montreal-based writer whose short stories have won the Malahat Review Open Season Award and the Humber Literary Review Emerging Writers Fiction contest. She is an alumna of the Banff Centre, winner of a Canada Council Arts grant and an active member of the Quebec Writers' Federation.
Just Say Yes by Bob McDonald
Starting in a small town with a boy from a low-income family, Just Say Yes explores how Bob McDonald ended up travelling the world, hosting Quirks and Quarks, becoming an officer of the Order of Canada and even having an asteroid named in his honour.
When you can read it: Sept. 14, 2024
McDonald has been the host of CBC Radio's Quirks and Quarks since 1992. He is a regular science commentator on CBC's News Network and a science correspondent for CBC TV's The National. He has written multiple books including Measuring the Earth with a Stick, which was shortlisted for the Canadian Science Writers Association Book Award and The Future Is Now, about the achievable greener future.
Post-Mortem of the Event by Klara du Plessis
Post-Mortem of the Event is a collection of poems and "wave form visualization" composed from recordings of the poet's live readings and digital archives. Hinting at an unwritten manuscript, this collection experiments with form and sound, echoing themes of death and inclusion.
When you can read it: Sept. 15, 2024
Klara du Plessis is a poet, academic and curator living between Montreal and Cape Town. Her other poetry collections include Ekke which won the Pat Lowther Memorial Award in 2019, and Hell Light Flesh which was adapted into a mono-opera at the 2023 International Festival of Films on Art.
Under the White Gaze by Christopher Cheung
In the nonfiction work Under the White Gaze, author and journalist Christopher Cheung explore the state of diversity and race within Canadian media organizations and platforms. The work is a call-to-action for news organizations to think more critically about representation in all areas of media coverage.
When you can read it: Sept. 16, 2024
Christopher Cheung is a staff reporter for the Tyee. His writing can also be found in Metro and the Vancouver Courier.
Bad Weather Mammals by Ashley-Elizabeth Best
The poems in Bad Weather Mammals reflect Ashley-Elizabeth Best's own experiences with disability. The poems look back at her childhood, but also her adulthood and even her relationships in her community. The poet explores in a variety of formal constraints both the joys and devastation of living with a disabled body.
When you can read it: Sept. 17, 2024
Ashley-Elizabeth Best is a disabled poet and essayist from Kingston, Ont. Her debut collection of poetry, Slow States of Collapse, was published in 2016. Best's chapbook Alignment was published in 2021. That same year, Best was also a contributor for Resistance, a collection of poems curated and edited by Sue Goyette.
Best was on the longlist for the 2022 CBC Poetry Prize.
Death of Persephone: A Murder by Yvonne Blomer
The poems in Death of Persephone explore the myth of Persephone through the character of Stephanie who lives in a more modern setting than her Greek inspiration. With many displacements to the myth, one question remains: who will survive this altered version of the ancient story?
When you can read it: Sept. 17, 2024
Yvonne Blomer is a poet and author. She is the author of the travel memoir Sugar Ride: Cycling from Hanoi to Kuala Lumpur and the poetry collection As if a Raven. She edited the anthologies Refugium: Poems for the Pacific and Sweet Water: Poems for the Watersheds. Blomer served as Victoria's poet laureate from 2015 to 2018.
Blomer was longlisted for the 2020 CBC Poetry Prize.
Without Beginning or End by Jacqueline Bourque
Inspired by the scenery of her childhood in New Brunswick, Jacqueline Bourque's posthumous poetry collection meditates on life and death after Bourque received a terminal cancer diagnosis. Without Beginning or End offers a series of connections to family, art, friendship and the human condition through short emotional poems.
When you can read it: Sept. 17, 2024
Bourque was an Ottawa-based poet. Her poems appeared in The Antigonish Review, The Dalhousie Review, The Fiddlehead and the Queen's Quarterly. Her first book Repointing the Bricks was shortlisted for the Ottawa Book Award. She died in 2023.
Total Party Kill by Craig Francis Power
Referring to the Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) term, Total Party Kill is a scenario within a game of D&D where all of the characters die together. Mapping the poet's personal story of addiction and sobriety alongside a dark fantasy game of monsters and underworlds, this collection combines poetic verse and short monologues. Told through the poet's own voice and other D&D characters, Total Party Kill parallels the roleplaying game and one's path to healing.
When you can read it: Sept. 17, 2024
Craig Francis Power is an artist and writer from St. John's. His first novel, Blood Relatives, won the Percy Janes First Novel Award, the Fresh Fish Award for Emerging Writers, the ReLit Award, and was shortlisted for the BMO Winterset Award. His other books include The Hope and Skeet Love. His visual art has been shown at galleries across Canada.
Water Quality by Cynthia Woodman Kerkham
Water Quality is a book of lamentations, monologues and haibun: a Japanese form of both prose and haiku. Focusing on water as a central force that covers a swimmer's body, the poet follows the movement and purpose of water across lakes, seas and oceans. From Hong Kong to the Pacific Northwest, the poet questions what water wants and how we can best steward it.
When you can read it: Sept. 17, 2024
Cynthia Woodman Kerkham is the Victoria-based author of Good Holding Ground and with feathers and the co-editor of Poems from Planet Earth. Woodman Kerkham was shortlisted for the 2014 CBC Poetry Prize.
Homing by Alice Irene Whittaker
Homing is a memoir about the author's experience of abandoning a busy commuter lifestyle to move to a cabin in the woods with her family. The book also touches upon the journey of repairing her fractured relationship with both herself and the natural world.
When you can read it: Sept. 17, 2024
Alice Irene Whittaker is a writer and environmental leader. She is the executive director of Ecology Ottawa and the creator and host of Reseed, a podcast about repairing our relationship to nature. Whittaker has longlisted for all three CBC Literary Prizes. She was on the 2022 CBC Poetry Prize longlist, the 2021 CBC Nonfiction Prize longlist and was on the longlist of the 2012 CBC Short Story Prize. Whittaker lives with her family in a cabin in the woods in Quebec.
Born to Walk by Alpha Nkuranga
Born to Walk is a memoir that details Alpha Nkuranga's story of resistance and survival. When she was eight, she and her younger brother ran from her grandparents' home in Rwanda in the midst of the civil war. They hid in a swamp until it was safe to leave and ended up joining a group of refugees fleeing to Tanzania. More than ten years later, Nkuranga moved to Canada and now works with women and children who face abuse and homelessness.
When you can read it: Sept. 17, 2024
Nkuranga works for Women's Crisis Services in Kitchener, Ont. She fled Rwanda as an eight-year-old and lived in refugee camps in Tanzania and Uganda before arriving in Canada in 2010.
Because Somebody Asked Me To by Guy Vanderhaeghe
Because Somebody Asked Me To is celebrated writer Guy Vanderhaeghe's response to all the editors and publishers who have asked him for his insights on books, history and literature spanning his prolific career. It examines the state of Canadian literature when he first appeared on the scene in 1982, what's happened since and where it can go from here.
When you can read it: Sept. 17, 2024
Vanderhaeghe is a novelist, short story writer and playwright. Vanderhaeghe's debut short story collection Man Descending, published in 1982, earned him the Governor General's Literary Award and later the Faber Prize in Britain. He would go on to win two more Governor General's Literary Awards: in 1996 for The Englishman's Boy and in 2015 for the short story collection Daddy Lenin and Other Stories. His book The Last Crossing won Canada Reads 2004. He won the Timothy Findley Prize, the Harbourfront Literary Prize and the Cheryl and Henry Kloppenburg Prize for his complete body of work.
Juiceboxers by Benjamin Hertwig
In Juiceboxers, Plinko is a 16-year-old undergoing basic training before finishing high school. When he moves in with an older soldier, he and the other roommates, people from all different backgrounds, build an unlikely friendship. After 9/11, the military plans to go to war in Afghanistan so the young men are sent to the battlefields of Kandahar and are forever changed.
When you can read it: Sept. 17, 2024
Benjamin Hertwig is a writer, painter and ceramist who spent time as a soldier. His book Slow War was shortlisted for the Governor General's Literary Award for poetry. Based in Edmonton, he owns Paper Birch Books, a second hand bookstore, with his partner.
The Pages of the Sea by Anne Hawk
The Pages of the Sea tells the story of Wheeler and her older sisters on a Caribbean island after their mother moves to England to find work. As she waits for her mother to send for her, Wheeler feels alone and must navigate the tensions between her aunts who took her and her sisters in.
When you can read it: Sept. 17, 2024
Anne Hawk is a writer who grew up in the Caribbean, the U.K., and Canada. The Pages of the Sea is her first novel. She previously worked as a journalist, paralegal and school teacher. She is currently based in London, U.K.
Dry Your Tears to Perfect Your Aim by Jacob Wren
When a depressed writer visits a war zone, he finds a small feminist collective living on a small strip of land. The more he learns about the society they've created, the more he grapples with the idea of writing about it and the ethical concerns that would come up if he did.
When you can read it: Sept. 17, 2024
Jacob Wren is a writer, artist and performer based in Montreal. His books include Revenge Fantasies of the Politically Dispossessed, Polyamorous Love Song, Rich and Poor, which was a finalist for the Paragraphe Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction, and Authenticity is a Feeling. He is the artistic co-director of PME-ART, an interdisciplinary group.
I Never Said That I Was Brave by Tasneem Jamal
I Never Said That I Was Brave recounts the lifelong friendship of two women who immigrated from Uganda to Canada as children. As adults, their dynamics are constantly shifting as they grow yet feel stifled by expectations of their South Asian community.
When you can read it: Sept. 17, 2024
Tasneem Jamal is a Kitchener, Ont.-based writer who was born in Uganda. She also is the author of Where the Air is Sweet and was named one of CBC's writers to watch in 2014. Her work has appeared in Chatelaine, Saturday Night and the Literary Review of Canada. Jamal is The X Page Storytelling Workshop's writing coach and an editor at The New Quarterly.
Hi, It's Me by Fawn Parker
In Hi, It's Me, Fawn returns to her mother's farmhouse after her death — one that is also inhabited by four other women with interesting and strange beliefs. As she lives in her mother's room and tries to figure out what to do with her possessions, she becomes obsessed with archiving her mother's writing and documents, teaching her more and more about the woman she thought she knew so well.
When you can read it: Sept. 17, 2024
Fawn Parker is an author and current PhD student at the University of New Brunswick. Her novel What We Both Know was longlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize in 2022. Her poetry collection Soft Inheritance won the Fiddlehead Poetry Book Prize.
Bringer of Dust by J. M. Miro
The second book in the Talents Trilogy, Bringer of Dust follows Charlie and the Talents as they discover a body covered in the corrupted dust of the drughr — and realize that a new drughr has arisen. They must work together to stave off the world of the dead and save their friend.
When you can read it: Sept. 17, 2024
J.M. Miro is a Canadian author based in British Columbia. His book Ordinary Monsters was an international bestseller and the first book of the Talents Trilogy.
Proof by Beverley McLachlin
Criminal defense lawyer Jilly Truitt is taking some well-deserved and needed time off with her new baby when she's asked to take on the case of Katie, a high-profile mother accused of kidnapping her own child. Katie's prospects aren't looking good and police begin to suspect that her daughter, Tess, is dead — and she's one the responsible. Jilly must quickly solve the case to save both Katie and Tess.
When you can read it: Sept. 17, 2024
Beverley McLachlin was the first female chief justice of the Supreme Court of Canada. She held the position for nearly 20 years. After McLachlin retired from the court, she became a writer, publishing the memoir Truth Be Told, which won the Writers' Trust Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing and the Ottawa Book Award for Nonfiction, and the thrillers Full Disclosure and Denial.
The Lightning Bottles by Marissa Stapley
In The Lightning Bottles, an unlikely duo of fallen rock star Jane Pyre and sullen teenage superfan Hen take a road trip to find out what happened to Elijah, Jane's bandmate and soulmate. A love letter to music and female artists who deserve the same powerful legacies as their male counterparts, Stapley wrote The Lightning Bottles to give a voice to both them and the teenagers listening to music, waiting for their lives to begin.
When you can read it: Sept. 17, 2024
Marissa Stapley is a Toronto writer, journalist and author of romance, thrillers and romantic comedies. Her books include Mating for Life, Things To Do When It's Raining, The Last Resort, Lucky and The Holiday Swap, which was co-written with Karma Brown under the pen name Maggie Knox.
I Left You Behind by Nazneen Sheikh
I Left You Behind is a striking short story collection that spans decades and countries, largely drawing on the author's own experience. They explore dislocation, relocation and the highs and lows of lives lived.
When you can read it: Sept. 17, 2024
Nazneen Sheikh was born in Kashmir and studied in Pakistan and Texas. She has written three young adult books as well as several books of nonfiction and fiction including Moon Over Marrakech, The Place of Shining Light and Tea and Pomegranates: A Memoir of Food, Family and Kashmir, which won second prize in the English and French special interest food and beverage book category from Cuisine Canada and the University of Guelph. She lives in Toronto.
Embedded by Catherine Lang
In Embedded, former reporter Catherine Lang preserves the memory of her niece Michelle, a journalist who was killed in Afghanistan in 2009. In a book that addresses the horrific consequences of war, dedication to press freedom and the rights of Afghan women and girls, Lang gets closer to Michelle through the process of travelling across the country to talk to her colleagues and friends.
When you can read it: Sept. 20, 2024
Lang is a writer and former journalist living in Victoria, B.C. Her creative nonfiction book O-Bon in Chimunesu: A Community Remembered won the the Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize in 1997.
Dear Da-Lê by Anh Duong
Written for his daughter, Anh Duong tells his previously untold story as a child during the Vietnam War and a refugee in Iran in the late 1970s. Compelled by his daughter's involvement in student protests, in Dear Da-Lê, he decides that it's finally time to share his journey to ending up in Canada in 1980.
When you can read it: Sept. 21, 2024
Duong is a Calgary-based writer. He was born in Thua-Thien Hue, Vietnam and moved to Iran in the 1970s. He worked for years as an engineer in the petroleum industry after his 1980 arrival to Canada.
Great Silent Ballad by A.F. Moritz
From A.F. Moritz, Great Silent Ballad is a book of seven sections of lyrical poetry ruminating on civilization today and poetry's role within it as a creative medium. The short sections include themes of childhood, how we age and mature and poetry as it relates to feelings of hope, love and freedom.
When you can read it: Sept. 24, 2024
Moritz is the author of 20 poetry collections, including The Garden, As Far As You Know and The Sparrow: Selected Poems. For over a decade he has been the Goldring Professor of the Arts and Society at Victoria University at the University of Toronto, where he continues to teach creative writing. He served as the sixth poet laureate for the City of Toronto from 2019 to 2023. He was a three-time finalist for the Governor General's Literary Award for poetry: for Rest on the Flight into Egypt in 1999, The Sentinel in 2008 and The New Measures in 2012. As Far As You Know was a finalist for the 2020 Ontario Trillium Award. The Sentinel was also the winner of the 2009 Griffin Poetry Prize.
Some Lines of Poetry: From the Notebooks of bpNichol, edited by Derek Beaulieu & Gregory Betts
For what would have been the 80th birthday of Canadian poet bpNichol, Some Lines of Poetry is an offering of 80 pieces of poetry and writing from the late poet's journals. Written in the 1980s, Nichol's notebooks reveal insights to his writing process, on his life and unseen sound and visual poems.
When you can read it: Sept. 24, 2024
bpNichol, who died in 1988, wrote more than 22 books of poetry and prose and won the Governor General's Award for poetry in 1971 and the Three-Day Novel Award in 1982 for Still.
Derek Beaulieu is the author or editor of more than 25 books of poetry, prose and criticism. He has exhibited his visual work across Canada, the United States and Europe. He is currently the director of literary arts at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity and Banff's poet laureate.
Gregory Betts is the author of 10 books of poetry. He is a professor at Brock University and curator of the bpNichol.ca Digital Archive. His most recent book is The Fabulous Op, a collection of poetry co-written with Gary Barwin.
A Constellation of Minor Bears by Jen Ferguson
A Constellation of Minor Bears tells the story of Molly, her brother Hank and his best friend Tray. When Hank suffers a traumatic brain injury while indoor climbing, Molly is devastated to embark on their planned graduation trip without him. Tray, on the other hand, doesn't seem to mind. This infuriates Molly who's harbouring layers of resentment towards him surrounding her brother's accident.
But as the two trek through the wilderness together, they'll have to hash it all out and band together for the journey's twists and turns.
When you can read it: Sept. 24, 2024
Jen Ferguson is a YA author, activist and academic of Michif/Métis and Canadian settler heritage, based in Los Angeles. Ferguson has a PhD in English and creative writing. Her debut novel, The Summer of Bitter and Sweet, won the 2022 Governor General's Literary Award for young people's literature — text.
When the Pine Needles Fall by Katsi'tsakwas Ellen Gabriel, with Sean Carleton
When the Pine Needles Fall tells the story of Canada's violent siege of Kanehsatà:ke and Kahnawà:ke in 1990 from the perspective of Katsi'tsakwas Ellen Gabriel who was the Kanien'kehá:ka spokesperson during that time. The book covers her experiences leading up to the siege and her work as an activist for her community since.
When you can read it: Sept. 24, 2024
Gabriel is a Kanien'kehá:ka, Wakeniáhton, artist, documentarian and Indigenous human rights and environmental rights activist. She lives in Kanehsatà:ke Kanien'kehá:ka Homelands.
Sean Carleton is a historian and professor in Indigenous studies at the University of Manitoba. He is also the author of Lessons in Legitimacy.
Book and Dagger by Elyse Graham
Book and Dagger brings to light the untold story of the scholars and librarians who joined the Office of Strategic Services, the intelligence agency that predated the CIA, at the start of the Second World War. The book explores how they became spies and shaped the course of the war and cultural institutions.
When you can read it: Sept. 24, 2024
Elyse Graham is a historian and professor at Stony Brook University. She has written three books: You Talkin' to Me?, A Unified Theory of Cats on the Internet and The Republic of Games.
Invisible Prisons by Lisa Moore and Jack Whalen
In Invisible Prisons, told through the prose of author Lisa Moore, Jack Whalen shares the violence and abuse he experienced as a child at a St. John's boarding school for four years. Despite the pain he endured, he found love and satisfaction as a husband and father. After hearing about what happened to him, his daughter promised to become a lawyer to help him seek justice — and that's just what she did. Now, Whalen's case is part of a lawsuit that is before the courts.
When you can read it: Sept. 24, 2024
Moore is a Newfoundland-based writer. Her books include February, which won Canada Reads 2013 when it was defended by Trent McClellan; Caught, which was a finalist for the Scotiabank Giller Prize in 2013 and was made into a miniseries for CBC television; the YA novel Flannery and the short story collection Something for Everyone, which was on the longlist for the 2018 Scotiabank Giller Prize.
Who We Are by Murray Sinclair, with Sara Sinclair and Niigaan Sinclair
Murray Sinclair made his mark on Canadian society as a judge, activist, senator, the chief commissioner of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the co-chair of the Aboriginal Justice Inquiry — and now he writes all about it in his memoir Who We Are. The book answers the four guiding questions of Sinclair's life — Where do I come from? Where am I going? Why am I here? Who am I? — through stories about his remarkable career and trailblazing advocacy for Indigenous peoples' rights and freedoms.
When you can read it: Sept. 24, 2024
Murray Sinclair is a former judge and senator. Anishinaabe and a member of the Peguis First Nation, Sinclair was the first Indigenous judge appointed in Manitoba and the second appointed in Canada. He served as Co-Chair of the Aboriginal Justice Inquiry in Manitoba and as Chief Commissioner of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. He has won awards including the National Aboriginal Achievement Award, the Manitoba Bar Association's Equality Award and its Distinguished Service Award (2016) and has received Honorary Doctorates from 14 Canadian universities.
Sara Sinclair is an oral historian of Cree-Ojibwa and mixed settler descent. She teaches at Columbia University and is currently co-editing two anthologies of Indigenous letters.
Niigaan Sinclair is a writer, editor, activist and the head of the Department of Native Studies at the University of Manitoba. He is the co-editor of Manitowapow: Aboriginal Writings from the Land of Water and Centering Anishinaabeg Studies: Understanding the World Through Stories. He won the Peace Educator of the Year award in 2019. He is also the author of the book Wînipêk.
What I Know About You by Éric Chacour, translated by Pablo Strauss
In What I Know About You, Tarek is on the right path: he'll be a doctor like his father, marry and have children. But when he falls for his patient's son, Ali, his life is turned upside-down as he realizes his sexuality against a backdrop of political turmoil in 1960s Cairo. In the 2000s, Tarek is now a doctor in Montreal. When someone begins to write to him and about him, the past that he's been trying to forget comes back to haunt him.
When you can read it: Sept. 24, 2024
Éric Chacour is a Montreal-based writer who was born to Egyptian parents and grew up between France and Quebec. In addition to writing, he works in the financial sector. What I Know About You is his first book and was a bestseller in its French edition, winning many awards including the Prix Femina.
Pablo Strauss has translated 12 works of fiction, several graphic novels and one screenplay. He was a finalist for the Governor General's Literary Award for translation for The Country Will Bring Us No Peace, Synapses and The Longest Year. His translation of Le plongeur by Stephane Larue called The Dishwasher won the 2020 Amazon First Novel Award. He lives in Quebec City.
The Nowhere Places by Susan LeBlanc
The Nowhere Places is a novel set in 1979 North End Halifax that revolves around two women, June and Lulu, and the chaos that transpires when Gerald, a developmentally disabled adult, goes missing. June is his mother, who raised him alone and unwed, and Lulu is a teenager who works at the pharmacy with him. The novel brings them together and shares stories of girlhood and womanhood as they both try and figure out what they are capable of.
When you can read it: Sept. 24, 2024
Susan LeBlanc is a Dartmouth, N.S.-based writer. She worked as a newspaper and magazine journalist for 20 years and taught journalism at the University of King's College. She was shortlisted for the Budge Wilson Short Fiction Prize in 2018 and was selected for the 2022 Alistair MacLeod Mentorship Program.
Celestina's House by Clarissa Trinidad Gonzalez
In Celestina's House, Celestina is desperate to get out of her family's house after a shocking betrayal made the atmosphere too tense to bear. When her Lolo gifts her a property in Manila's bohemian district, she feels at home, even though there are ghosts lurking. As time goes on, she gets a real chance at happiness, but voices from the past threaten to take it all away.
When you can read it: Sept. 24, 2024
Clarissa Trinidad Gonzalez is a Filipina author based in Toronto. Celestina's House is her first book.
No Signal No Noise by A Jamali Rad
The first book of poetry in The Self-Inscribing Machine series follows Zero the hero after they find a manuscript and are sent on an epic journey across the Muslim world in Sumeria, India and Baghdad. No Signal No Noise experiments with lyric and narrative, drawing on the philosophical, cultural and historical implications of the Self and the Other through one hero's journey.
When you can read it: Sept. 25, 2024
A Jamali Rad is a writer from Iran who now lives in Ottawa. They are also the author of the poetry collection for love and autonomy and still. Jamali Rad also co-founded the small poetry publisher House House Press.
The Tapestry of Time by Kate Heartfield
The Tapestry of Time is a historical fantasy novel that tells the story of the Sharp sisters and their extraordinary psychic powers during the Second World War. Kit lives in Paris and is endlessly fascinated with the Bayeux tapestry that is said to predict the future. The Nazis are also obsessed with the tapestry and believe it will help them continue their conquest of Europe. Ivy joins the Special Operations Executive and is sent to France on a special mission — and the two sisters must use their courage and special gifts to keep the Nazis from using the tapestry and beating the Allied Forces.
When you can read it: Sept. 26, 2024
Kate Heartfield is a former journalist and the author of The Embroidered Book, Alice Payne Arrives, which was shortlisted for a Nebula Award, and The Valkyrie. Her debut novel, Armed in Her Fashion, won the 2019 Aurora Award for Best Novel.
White World by Saad T. Farooqi
White World imagines Pakistan in 2083 A.D. when a civil war is happening and Avaan finds himself alone with only a gun in his hand. He's living without citizenship and his whole family, including Doua, his one true love, was stolen from him in a military raid. When he finds out that Doua might be alive, he becomes committed to finding her and takes a stand against the army and the mob.
When you can read it: Sept. 28, 2024
Saad T. Farooqi is a London, Ont.-based writer who spent most of his life as a Pakistani expat in Dubai. His writing has appeared in many magazines and he holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Kingston University London. White World is his first book.
Poutine by Justin Giovannetti Lamothe
Journalist Justin Giovannetti Lamothe writes about the odd, winding origins of the closest thing Canada has to a national dish — Poutine. Through his research, he learns more about Canadian history and draws closer to the Québécois heritage he used to drift away from.
When you can read it: Sept. 26, 2024
Giovannetti Lamothe is a Montreal-based journalist who has covered major events such as the Lac-Mégantic rail explosion and the Fort McMurray wildfires. He was born in rural Quebec and has lived in Ontario, Alberta and B.C.
Mondegreen Riffs by Angeline Schellenberg
Informed by the poet's Ignatian spirituality, neurodivergence and trauma, Mondegreen Riffs is a collection that explores the senses. Combining prose poetry, sound poems and answers to "odd online inquiries" this book situates the poet as the listener to the wonders of the world around them.
When you can read it: Sept. 26, 2024
Angeline Schellenberg is the Winnipeg-based author of Tell Them It Was Mozart, winner of the Lansdowne Prize for Poetry and Eileen McTavish Sykes Award for Best First Book. Her poetry collection, Fields of Light and Stone was shortlisted for the 2022 Kobzar Book Award. Schellenberg was the recipient of the 2017 John Hirsch Award for Most Promising Manitoba Writer.
This Report is Strictly Confidential by Elizabeth Ruth
This Report is Strictly Confidential is a poetic memoir of writer Elizabeth Ruth's inner life and family dynamics. Within four sections the poet details the life of her aunt who lived in a government residential hospital and reflects on a father she never met. Through the irony and intimacy of the poet's life, secrets come forward and leave lasting effects.
When you can read it: Sept. 27, 2024
Elizabeth Ruth is an author, poet and professor living in Toronto. She is also the author of the novels Semi-Detached, Ten Good Seconds of Silence, Smoke and Matadora. This Report Is Strictly Confidential is her debut poetry collection.
Hard Electric by Michael Blouin
Michael Blouin's poems in Hard Electric are a collection of reflections with a decided slant toward disaster. They are unsettling, not for the faint of heart, but ultimately also life-affirming for the lonely hearted or those who know them well.
When you can read it: Sept. 30, 2024
Michael Blouin is a writer from Ontario. Blouin won the 2020 ReLit Award for his novel Skin House. He previously won the ReLit Award in 2009 for his debut novel Chase and Haven. Hard Electric is his third poetry collection.
Blouin was a finalist for the 2009 CBC Poetry Prize for his poem fidelity which is included in Hard Electric.
Permission to Settle by Holly Flauto
In a collection of autobiographical poems Permission to Settle highlights the often impersonal and nerve-wracking experiences of immigration processes from applying to moving and then feeling a lack of belonging in your new home. The poet confronts what it means to be a settler in Canada and the colonial structures at work through playful and telling verse.
When you can read it: Sept. 30, 2024
Originally from the USA, Holly Flauto currently lives in Vancouver. Flauto is a writer and poet who teaches English and Creative Writing at Capilano University. Their writing has previously been published in The ex-Puritan, Joyland and The Rusty Toque.
